Ethiopian Parents in Ofaqim:

                                                                       

OUR CHILDREN DO NOT NEED SPECIAL ED

 

 

About a month ago, a group of four Ethiopian immigrant parents came to HILA. These parents had recently discovered that their children had been placed in a “special ed” first grade class at the Moresha school. The parents had read about similar stories in the HILA newspaper Our Voice and had come to request our help in their struggle to return their children to regular education. At a meeting with HILA activists, the parents decided to keep their children at home until their demands were met. Two administrators from the Ministry of Education visited the families at home and demanded that they return their children to school. Three of the five parents obeyed. Parent representatives and HILA members then met with one of these administrators, and it was decided that the psychological test results determining the children’s need for special ed would be handed over to the parents.

 

          On December 25, 1995, the parents and HILA activists arrived at the educational placement committee equipped with letters explaining that the psychological tests were illegal because they weren’t conducted by licensed psychologists. The parents demanded the immediate return of their children to regular education, plus remedial hours to raise the children’s study level, which had dropped during their time in special ed, back to normal. After hours of discussion, the committee decided to return all the children immediately to regular education, and to provide two additional hours weekly of study with a teacher for immigrants. It was additionally decided that the children would be re-evaluated in April by their teacher and school principal, at which point it would be decided whether or not to nullify the earlier psychological tests.

 

          Over 15 groups from all over the country have turned to HILA for help in the past year. As a result, parents have become an integral part of local educational councils in Yoq’neam, Beer Sheva, Daliat el Karmel, and many other areas where parent voices had never before been heard.